Never leave a project un-finished to too long

I have learned that leaving a project incomplete for too long does affect your satisfaction on completing it.  Or maybe it's because this garment has too many niggley errors.  Or maybe the errors crept in because of all the start-stop and distractions, and by the end I was all "Who cares, gerrit DONE."

A few months ago, I started this blue and white spotty dress.  The fabric was bought on my honeymoon, which was before I got a job/house/two children (so clearly a looooong time ago).  The pattern is self-drafted and closely related to my ruffle dress, but I couldn't be bothered to do much more than remove the ruffle and centre-front pleat.  I wanted my new dress FAST.  (Although, not so fast that it took less than almost 3 months, it turns out.)

I got most of the major seams done quite fast, and then my overlocker failed.  The clonking noise became unbearable, the tension went ape and I couldn't get a seam to look half decent.  Maddening!  I just wanted to finish that dress!

I fixed the overlocker.  Then the 2015 outfit-along started (see this post) and I started knitting.  Needless to say the outfit-along was not completed by the deadline, because I later decided to stop knitting and make the baby carrier.  Then I went back to my knitting, which had started to take me 3 nights to do a 12-row sleeve cuff because the children would not sleep with the light evenings and heat.  And I started a crochet space-rocket for a WI competition.

Whatevs, I had to finish the dress which by now only needed the lining hand-stitching around the zip, and a hem.  I finished up, and wore it for a morning before the gape at the neckline irritated me so much I took it off before lunch.  It then languished for a few more weeks (plus family holiday) before I unpicked and re-inserted the zipper.  I finally made it!!!

It's fully lined, except the sleeves which just have a tiny rolled hem.  There is a concealed zipper in the centre-front (breastfeeding necessity), and in-seam side pockets!  Yay pockets!

Bad things:

The neckline still does not sit flat against my chest.  Maybe this is a pattern error disguised by the floppy fabric and ruffles the last time I made this pattern, or maybe I over-stretched it when putting the zip in (I ought to have stay-stitched, hands up.)

Toddler channelling my dress-hate for this make.

One bust dart is inexplicably higher than the other by almost an inch, and I only just noticed (now I can't get to it to unpick).  HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!  I swear gnomes came and did this error, I am usually so careful and this has never happened before.

The bust darts in general finish a little bit too high and close to my bust point.  I ought to change the pattern.  It's entirely possible my anatomy has changed ;-)

Is the bodice over-fitted?  I read in my new fitting book that this is a thing.  Should it be less fitted?  Or is it just that ready-to-wear are not correctly made for my bust size?  (Hee hee, busts!)

I forgot to stabilise around the neckline, zipper and especially pockets with fusible interfacing, so soon these areas may be as saggy as I am.  ;-)  I forgot to overlock the pocket edges and side-seams before I inserted them.  The bodge is not pretty so don't look too closely inside.

Most irritatingly, while it was hanging on my dress form waiting for the bias to drop before hemming, I realised that I don't like my grain/pattern positioning.  Not at all.  I tried to have central dots running up/down the centre-front and back, and matching the pattern over the seams here but but didn't work very well in my rush.   And it also looks rubbish.  I should have the straight grain running down the centre of each panel in the 4-gore skirt.  This is going to annoy me forever.

Finally, the lining rolled hem got mangled by overlocker which was up to it's old knocking-noise tricks for some inexplicable reason.  (I think it was a combination of bent needle needle, fine fabric and poor quality thread or something.)  I also couldn't be bothered to do make bias binding to try a nicer hem on the outside fabric than the old fold-fold-machine stitch.  Even though a faced hem would have been better.

"More photos mummy!  Mummy I want to see!"

On the plus side, sash!  It's the selvedge of my (still-not-finished) curtain lining in white polyester.  Excited about having a sash to cover my post-baby tummy and poor pattern matching.  Also makes a cheap rubbishy dress look a bit too posh for playgroup.  But it was for free.  So there's that.

Sorry 'bout the naff kitchen photos.  I have to use a self-timer on the worktop because I am too cheap to buy a camera tripod, and my toddler HAS to be in the photos shouting stuff.  Ahhh.